1. Field of the Disclosed Embodiments
The disclosure relates to wireless communication and, more particularly to a system and method for establishing a fast session transfer (FST) in WLAN and WPAN wireless systems.
2. Introduction
A personal wireless area network (WPAN) is a network used for communication among computing devices (for example, personal devices such as telephones and personal digital assistants) close to one person. The reach of a WPAN may be a few meters. WPANs may be used for interpersonal communication among personal devices themselves, or for connecting via an uplink to a higher level network, for example, the Internet.
The millimeter-wave WPAN and/or mm Wave network may allow very high data rates (e.g., over 2 Gigabit per second (Gbps)) applications such as high speed Internet access, streaming content download (e.g., video on demand, high-definition television (HDTV), home theater, etc.), real time streaming and wireless data bus for cable replacement.
A number of wireless devices today claim to be multi-band. This term is commonly used to refer to devices that support operation in multiple frequency bands, such as 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, cellular bands, among others. Although these devices are multi-band from a frequency band point of view, from a radio implementation and system integration perspective the operation across the supported frequency bands are completely independent. In other words, there is no means for information/resource sharing and for seamless transfer of communication at the data link level.
To address this problem, the Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11ad Task Group have defined a multi-band operation mechanism that allows integration and seamless operation across different frequency bands and channels. This multi-band mechanism, also known as fast session transfer (FST), is becoming a key component in future generation 60 GHz based systems, and is expected to significantly improve the user experience by offering real-time integration at the data link level between different WiGig-based and IEEE 802.11-based technologies.
However, in order to implement the multi-band mechanism currently being defined in SIGs and standardization bodies, a significant change is necessary in the design and implementation of a device architecture that can support such multi-band operation. This is required so that effective sharing and exchange of information between different data link layer technologies can be provided, and also to offer a mechanism whose operation is completely transparent to higher layer protocols such as IP.